Europe's ski business faces meltdown, OECD says

Global warming could devastate the ski resorts of Europe within decades, especially in lower-lying areas, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said

"Of the countries studied, Germany is most at risk," the OECD said in a statement. Austria and Italy were next followed by France and Switzerland.

Banks in Switzerland are already refusing to lend money to ski outfits below an altitude of 1500 metres, said Shardul Agrawala, an official conducting a two-year OECD investigation into the threat from rising temperatures.

"Some of the smaller operations are already closing up."

Alpine resorts are experiencing the warmest weather in 1,300 years, according to one climatologist. Experts say the mildness may be a natural freak but many suspect it is linked to greenhouse gases caused by human burning of fossil fuels.

The Paris-based OECD said its work was a first, systematic cross-country study of the Alpine region, covering 666 slopes.

About 90 per cent of the 666 slopes had enough snow cover for a reasonable period each year, namely 100 days or more, it said.

A one-degree rise in temperature would knock the number with decent snow cover down to 500.

That was a change likely to take place by 2020-2025, according to best estimates, said Agrawala.

A two-degree rise would reduce the number of viable slopes to 200, something that could occur by 2050, and a four-degree rise, which is on the cards for the end of the century, could cut the number to just 200.

"Tourism in the Alps is a key contributor to the economy of Alpine countries," the OECD said. "There are 60-80 million tourists and some 160 million 'skier days' in France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany each year."

Making artificial snow was environmentally damaging and would in any case be useless above a certain temperature, the OECD said.

In terms of regions, the Alpes Maritimes area closer to the Mediterranean was vulnerable, as were Steiermark-Styria in Austria and Italian Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.

The Grisons, Valais, and Savoie areas of Switzerland, and the Swiss-French border area were less at risk.

"Plastic sheeting can protect glaciers but will not prevent the eventual loss of glaciers if warming trends continue," the OECD, a think-tank for 30 mainly industrialised economies, said.